Rental Property Investing outside the US market

[Chuck Rey]

Hi BiggerPockets Community, 

I am an aspiring real estate investor. Recently, I have stumbled upon the book Rental Property Investing by Brandon Turner and I like it as it is very detailed and informative. However, I find it heavily based on the US market and it is a bit far from the setting of the area where I live and want to invest in (South East Asia). A few important things I want to point out are:

1. We don't have a centralized system like the MLS

2. Tax laws are not that advantageous for a real estate owner

3. The land areas are small but the population is high.

4. Road Infrastructure is not that ideal to have more than a 25-mile distance between your home and your workplace as travel time would take more than 2 to 3 hours one-way.

In the city center, it is mostly commercial spaces and high-rise residential areas (e.g. Condominiums), in the outskirts you can find Real Estate Subdivisions already owned by established developers in the country, in the rural areas houses are family-owned as it is common in the country that many generations live under one house.

Given this scenario, I am thinking to invest in Condominiums in the city center instead, but with condominiums, this already takes out other rental property investing techniques discussed in the book such as House Hacking, Flipping, Forced Appreciation, and bargain hunting for "Ugly" / Fixer-upper properties(due to prices do not differ a lot as you only need to pay the HOAs and the building admins do the maintenance as a whole)

I am hoping to hear some of your thoughts and suggestions to enlighten me. 

Your response is will be much appreciated. Thank you and Stay Safe!